Defending the middle ground of online journalism

It's easy to use polarizing descriptions
of online news-gathering. It's the domain of citizen journalists, blogging without
pay and institutional support, or it's a sector filled with the digital works
of "mainstream media" facing financial worries and struggling to offer employees
the protection they once provided. But there is a growing middle ground:
trained reporters and editors who work exclusively online on projects born independent
of traditional media. They share many of the practices of an older generation
of reporters, but their work draws from the decentralized and agile practices of
the digital world.

It's a sector found everywhere, but one
that has special significance in countries where the two extremes cannot
maintain a foothold, where the political climate makes individual blogging too
risky, and where the institutions of a free press have been repressed or were
never established.

At the launch of Columbia
University's new Global Center in Istanbul this month, I joined
some of the brightest and bravest bloggers, editors, and producers in this
sector. Journalists building news institutions for the Middle East, the former Soviet
states, China, and across Africa discussed this fragile third wave and how to
protect its growth. Representatives of Nigeria's SaharaReporters,
Angola's Maka Angola, Iran's Tehran Bureau, China
Digital Times, Kavkazsky Uzel, and others took part.

Some have faced the kinds of attacks
that CPJ has foughtfor years: state censorship,
denial-of-service attacks, detention, and threats. But other attacks are unique
to journalists in this group. Frequently, they have the equivalent of a
newsroom, a central backroom environment in which editors and frontline reporters
collaborate closely. But these newsrooms are virtual. Many are based in exile,
cooperating with in-country reporters via email or messaging. The online
communications between colleagues are extremely vulnerable to attack, and quite
valuable to the attackers. Unlike citizen journalists, journalists in this
sector cannot (and don't want to) protect the identities of all participants.

Online news services often operate
unofficially, without state recognition or registration. They don't get press
passes or invitations to press conferences, but they can still pore over
official documents and act on whistleblower tips. That makes protecting sources
even more important. Intimidation of sources can be the easiest way to threaten
or limit the impact of these sites. Exclusion of unofficial press organizations
from official data is another, less obvious method.

Often, these journalists find
themselves becoming sources themselves. They frequently act not just as publishers
of news, but as trusted sources for larger media concerns. The relationship
between PBS and Tehran Bureau is the most direct
connection, but all have informal ties with other, bigger news services.

That means success can be unpredictable.
A news site may have a few hundred dedicated readers, but if one of its stories
is picked up and magnified on larger news services or social media, viewership
can spike into many thousands overnight. As the thoughtful Zeynep Tufekci
noted, being widely read can offer vulnerable news sites a degree of
protection. "The most dangerous place you can be," she told the
group, "is when you are writing regime-shaking stories that no one
reads." Kelly Niknejad spoke of going from a few dozen
Twitter followers to 19,000 overnight. That brought a wider audience and some
financial support. At the same time, it can bring unwanted attention.

Istanbul itself has often played the
part of middle ground, between Europe and Asia, between Islam and the West. Our
meeting place overlooked the Bosphorus, as symbolic of such a crossroads as you
might want. But middle ground does not always mean moderate. Turkey's judiciary
regularly orders ISPs to block entire websites (including, most notoriously,
YouTube) for violations that may include only a single page or video. As CPJ's mission
to Turkey this year showed, many reporters fear legal
harassment.

To be in the middle of things isn't
always safe. But it's where the most interesting reporting is found and where
journalists frequently need the most protection.

San Francisco-based CPJ Internet Advocacy Coordinator Danny O’Brien has worked globally as a journalist and activist covering technology and digital rights. Follow him on Twitter @danny_at_cpj.